Stories and comments from the author's musical and political life: by John F Goodman

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Tag Archives: Medicaid

We were so intrigued by the new Republican health care bill in the Senate that we flew the entire JI&O staff to Washington at major cost to interview majority leader Mitch McConnell. Here is what King Cong, the King of Congressional Comity and current rat bastard of American politics, had to say.

JI&O: Mister Majority Leader, thank you for taking time away from jawboning your members to talk with us. Boy, you took a lot of crap for the secrecy in drafting this bill. Did the president subscribe to that?

MMc: He had nothing to do with it. He’ll sign on to whatever we pass and claim he engineered it. The so-called secrecy was to tamp down gross media speculation, always to be avoided, and get our members something to agree on. It’s just a beautiful bill, something for everybody—except the grifters who take advantage of the healthcare system.

JI&O: Sounds like your far right is not on board: Obamacare-Lite, they call it. Moderates are holding back, and critics hate it for the hundreds of billions in tax cuts for the rich you take out on the backs of the poor.

MMc: I hope you didn’t come in here representing the liberal media to spread Obama-Lite falsehoods on Facebook. We will vote next week and see whether my “secrecy” pays off. You can’t do any serious business in Washington if you pay attention to the media.

JI&O: You’ve said you’re going to strengthen Medicaid. But you’re really phasing it out, plus giving billions to the health insurance industry. Your bill looks less like a health care bill than a redistribution of wealth to the top. I hear reports you are going to buy out vacillating members with more special interest money.

MMc: Look, I am not going to respond to incendiary bombs like these. We are lifting the burdens that Obamacare has imposed on our people. We are reducing the costs of government-sponsored healthcare. We are making our people healthier. Republicans always rise to the challenge. You can leave via the side door.

Not very happy with that outcome, we trundled down the hall to Senator Schumer’s office. He was in the process of tweeting: “We live in the wealthiest country on Earth; surely we can do better than what the Republican #healthcarebill promises.”

JI&O: Well, Senator, what else is new? Surely you could come up with a stronger statement than that. Even Pelosi, no longer weak-kneed and trembling, called the new bill “nothing more than a massive tax cut for the rich on the backs of working families.”

CS: Listen, we make proposals to meet and talk out our differences, and we get nowhere. Now I’m fed up and had to tell them “no more business as usual in the Senate.” We want debate on the Senate floor, and they don’t.

JI&O: Pardon me for saying so, Senator, but this is all procedural stuff. Why don’t the Democrats come out with a strong statement of what a health care bill should and must provide?

CS: Mmm hmm. Well, we have to work across the aisle to get anything done in the Senate. That’s the ballgame. And thanks for dropping by, nice to see you.